Many of you have asked for a recap of the referral day, and I'm happy to oblige.
It was Monday morning, after a weekend with friends. My email is always up and at 9:32am I see a message titled "Referral!" from our social worker. I sort of did a double take but yes, she did in fact have a referral for us, and wanted to know what time we could come in. I started to shake and was a bit choked up when I called Dave right away. He just kept saying, "he's our guy, I know it."
After the LONGEST 4 hours of my life (so far), we went to the agency at 1:30pm. We walked in and our social worker asked how we were doing. I told her "I feel like I'm going to puke." I was able to keep it together but let me tell you the nerves, anticipation, excitement, curiosity are all very hard to keep in check in this type of situation. Dave and I tried to be very cool and started to read the top page of info but I could feel the photos of our baby on the next page and said "oh forget it, I HAVE to see his face." We jumped to that page and there he was, in his cute little sweatsuit, spikey Elvis hair, chubby hands and feet and the sweetest face, with round red cheeks. At that moment, a complete level of peace just washed over me. I understood instantly what everyone meant when they said you would KNOW that he's perfect for you. I didn't cry and usually I'm not shy with the tears, but just could not get the grin off my face...neither could Dave.
After we chatted with our social worker and went over all the paperwork we needed to fill out, Dave and I headed out to celebrate. We had a glass of champagne and a nice dinner at Mon Ami Gabi in Oak Brook. We have celebrated many happy occasions there over the years, and knew that was the place to go. It was nice to have some alone time to enjoy this enormous moment before we shared it with all of you.
11 comments:
beautiful, jojo. i am so happy for you. can't wait to follow your journey to south korea.
thanks for sharing this story! it made me smile today :)
That is SOOOO GREAT!!! He is adorable!!! Congrats on your baby Gabe!!! :)
Thank you for sharing your wonderful referral day story. I love that you skipped ahead to find the photo. I'm pretty sure I would have too!
Has your feet hit the ground yet, or are you still celebrating in the clouds?
I love the Elvis hair by the way! I keep looking back at your little picture and can't help but smile. What a doll! Now that my trip is over, I will be following yours like a hawk!
Thanks for sharing!! So fun to hear about others referral moments. I felt like I was going to puke all day while waiting for my info and photos to arrive in the mail!! Can you imagine how our bellies will feel when we are actually getting ready to meet our little guys?!!!
What a great story! Since we have the same social worker, I can totally picture the whole scene in her office! From the time we got our referral call until the time we got to see our daughter's face, I would rotate between feeling like I was going to puke and feeling like I was about to pass out. We had to wait 26 hours between the phone call and getting to see the picture too! Seeing my daughter's face and reading her story was one of the most intense things I have ever done in my life. Can you even imagine how we are going to feel when we are in Seoul??? Thank you for sharing your referral story!
What a great story! Thanks for sharing. It's amazing how clearly I can picture your butterflies and excitement from that day. Referral day is truly an amazing experience!
Referral day life changing! It was fun to read your story. I was stuck at work for a couple hours before we could go meet our SW and I had the same puking/dancing on air sensation.
congratulations! he is so adorable.
What a wonderful story! I totally understand that "I'm going to puke" feeling... and it's amazing how it just seems to disappear once you see your baby's face. Congrats again!
(the journey is only beginning!)
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